not crap. they seem to have become the critics' favorite punching bag lately, but every time i put their album on they succeed in moving me. i honestly don't understand why there's been a huge critical backlash against them already. they only have three full albums out!

im gonna say not crap because they are really good.... BUT i almost said not crap as i find it a bit hypocritical to profess their anti-industry/anti-capitaslist philosophy and then go and sell a song for a car ad (tho most of you wont know about this as i live in the UK and it was on TV here)... and the song east hastings was in the film '28 days later', but i guess that aint so bad...

But, some annoying things about them is the fact that each song uses the same formula over and over and the hypocracy stuff that someone else already pointed out. I also get annoyed that they need like 10 people to create their music, and all the hipster attitude involved with them.

i try and distance myself from political bands and godspeed is about as blatantly leftist as anyone alive, which sucks, but the music is too good not to listen to.

i saw them in new york and efrim made this big speech about killing "the man" with hammers, and marching on washington and tearing down the capitol building, so i just stared at the ground and tried not to listen until the next song started.

I really dug them live in 2000, and was moved by lift yr skinny fists.... I caught them live again in, oh, the fall of 2003? Early 2004? And I thought, "I like pie, too, but after eating it for three hours straight I'd really want to do something else."

This was a show at a local university, and Efrim was haranguing the audience, telling them to put down their books, turn off their computers, and drop out to "look for some real answers." Leftist/anarchist they may be, but this struck me as an offensive boho-elitism. Sure, sure, Ef, you go ahead and travel the world with your pure band, selling your music to car commercials and whatnot. You're not the one with the five- or six-figure academic debt staring you in the face.

I really enjoy them, but I find the field recordings a bit trying at times. I also think that they should (if they ever reform) write shorter (not much shorter, perhaps 11 - 19 minutes in length) songs with more intense crescendoes, because I find many of their songs tend to have sections that are blatantly filler.

As far as the their 'political mumbo jumbo' goes, it should be noted that one reason their side projects don't come around the states often is because they were stopped by the FBI or something on suspicion of being terrorists. That EP was awesome and part of what made it awesome was that dude's rant.It used to bring me to tears because the combination of the music and him bitching about America was extremely stirring.On a side note, I really liked that last record.It was noisy and no samples.

when i first heard them, i was stoned out of my tiny mind and it was really quite overwhelming at first, same with silve mt zion. then i saw them live and was ill so was completely sober. i was enthralled and able to check out the set up etc...

i next saw them at atp and it became too intense for my festival brain so i sought a place to lie down and listen but where i thought i saw a huge space to do so, i got there to find it was a sea of bodies doing just what i had intended. i had to get the hell out in the end.

i guess, not crap but i'll never go see them again. too complicated.

Tom wrote: I remember going in the back and seeing him headbanging to Big Black. He looked like he was raping the air- really. He had this look on his face like, "yeah air... you know you want it.".

The first one I heard was that Coney Island song off of Skinny Fists I believe. I thought it totally leeched off a fake-o and dishonest sentiment of nostalgia.

"It was Coney Island, they called Coney Island the playground of the world."

They do nothing to counter the sentiment present in those words, or to present it in a new light. They just add to it precisely what you would expect them to add to it. I think GYBE do all that "cinematic" stuff because they somehow lack imagination.